Beauty During A Pandemic Beast- Part 1

Enter the sanctuary of someone who delights and enjoys gardening. Color, tranquility, calm. All stems from a labor of hard work and love from an experienced gardener. Thank you R.M. for allowing me to have this colorful tour into your private world. 

Pineapple

Tiger lily

sago palm cycad

Asian honeysuckle

Gladiolus on lavender trellis

Variegated hostas

Frogs in the garden

That's it 🎕🎕🎕🎕

Next week: The Bounty of the Harvest- Part 2

Woman in a Can

A companion for the Tin Can Man

1. Coffee can, cookie can, tuna can, wire, hot glue
2. I had all of these keys and so I thought I'd make a skirt for 
    Tin Can Woman  (TCW)
3.  Key skirt
4.  Premature Tin Can Woman.

 Back to the drawing board

I used spoons, wire, keys, old jewelry, nuts, bolts, electrical tape, mini Altoid tin, craft chain, discarded man's ring and silver paint.

To give it a uniform look I sprayed it with silver paint.  It also covers up some of the glue. Very pleased with the outcome.

That's it***

Vegetarian Matzo Lasagna

I like lasagna or pretty much anything containing pasta. I also like most vegetables.
I still had matzo crackers left over from when I made Matzo Crack aka Matzo Toffee.
I searched for recipes that would allow me to use the remainder of the matzo crackers. I'm not a vegetarian but I will consume vegetarian dishes just the same as I do dishes containing meat. I try to be fair.😊 The recipe below is from Abbey's Kitchen.


Vegetarian Matzo Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced- (I used garlic powder)
• 1 small onion diced
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms sliced-(I used regular canned mushrooms)
• 2 zucchinis halved and sliced into 1/2 moons (I used yellow squash)
• 3 1/2 cups low sugar low salt marinara sauce
• 15 oz tub part skim ricotta cheese
• 300 grams frozen spinach thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 matzo crackers whole wheat or gluten free
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese grated
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
• Basil for garnish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a deep 9" square baking dish.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add in the onion. Saute until it starts to soften, then add in the mushrooms and zucchini. Cook for an additional 4 minutes, then add the garlic for another 30 seconds. Set aside.
• In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, spinach, egg, pepper and salt.
• Layer 1: Add about 1/2 cup of the sauce to the bottom of the greased dish. Add 1 matzo cracker, then about 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the veggies, about a cup of the sauce, and 1/4 of the cheese.
• Layer 2: Repeat with matzo, ricotta, veggies, sauce, cheese.
• Layer 3: Repeat with matzo, ricotta, veggies, sauce, cheese.
• Layer 4: Finish with the remaining matzo, sauce and cheese.
• Cover in foil that has been greased to prevent the cheese from sticking, then bake for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and increase the heat to broil. Broil for 5 minutes or until bubbly and golden. Allow to sit before cutting into squares and topping with basil, if desired.

Yes, it's labor intensive.

These are the ingredients. Most I prepped the night before so that saved some time.

Cooking the squash, onions, and mushrooms

Preparing the ricotta, egg and spinach mixture.

I'd forgotten that I'd thrown away my square pan (it was old and rusty) so I used a deep 

1. cast iron skillet. 

2. sauce at the bottom

3. matzo crackers. I had to break them to fit.  NOTE TO SELF: Buy  

     another square pan.✌️ 

4. spinach mixture

5. vegetables

6. cheese

                                                        Repeat

All of the layers are done.

5. Oiling the foil so that the cheese won't stick

6. Covering the lasagna

7. Lasagna in the oven

8. Timer set for cooking or else I'll forget

DONE! That's a lot of lasagna!

That's it***